Gather the students on the rug using a preferred classroom management technique.

Tell the students we are going to play a game which requires using some acting skills. They will need to use skills like their imagination, and their control of voice and of body. They will need to concentrate and cooperate in order to get the most enjoyment of this lesson.

Introduce the students to the point of concentration. This should start off being an obvious location in the classroom. Mine is a large black dot on a post-it-note stuck on the top of the SMARTBoard. In later lessons the point of concentration will become an individual student's choice.

I tell the students they will be acting out a variety of emotions. I ask the students to show me what happy looks and sounds like. As the students act happy I tell them to, "Freeze!"

At the word "freeze" the students literally freeze and hold the happy face they have. At the same time they focus on the point of concentration. I walk around and comment on the students facial expressions.

"Bryan you look very happy. I see a twinkle in your eye and a curve to your mouth."

Once I have commented on a few students expressions I tell the students to, "Curtain, relax." The students know that when I say, "Curtain, relax," they can go ahead and drop the facial expressions and be themselves.

I repeat these steps with the emotions mad and sad. I do this to get the students thinking about what these emotions look like and feel like. This helps the students make a connection to the monster characters in the book and what they are feeling.

Now have the students take a spot on the rug by singing the Spot on Your Dot Song and prepare them to listen to a story. Remind the students to use good listening skills. I tell my students to, “Show me you are ready to Look, Listen and Learn.”

I show the students the cover of the book and read the title of the book. “The title of this book is Glad Monster, Sad Monster. If the book is called Glad Monster, Sad Monster, what do you think this book is going to be about?”

I use the fair sticks to select two or three students to express their predictions to the class (I only select two or three students to share their prediction so the rest of the class does not get bored and cause a disruption).

I ask the students who answer to explain why they think their answer is right. For example, “Why do you think the book is about feelings?”Next, I tell the students that the book is by Ed Emberley and Anne Miranda. I ask the students, “If the book is by Ed Emberley and Anne Miranda, what do you think they are?” Hopefully a student will raise their hand and suggest that these people are the authors and/or illustrators of the book.

Now I read the story to the students.

Whilst reading the book check in with the students by asking a few students what would make them feel silly, loving, angry, etc. Limit this to just a few students at a time so the rest of the class does not become restless. Also make sure to ask different students with each emotion to allow more students to have a chance at expressing an idea - this where the fair sticks will come in useful.

When the book is over I ask the students if they can think of other words that might have the same or similar meaning to words like angry or sad. Words for angry might be mad, furious, irate, annoyed, etc. For sad there might words like blue, depressed, miserable, etc. I tell the students they are now going to make their own monster face.

I show the students the completed model first. I explain to the students that this is how I chose to make my monster face. I show the students the various monster face parts in the Ziploc bags and I explain they can choose whether to make their monster, mad, sad, or glad by selecting the appropriate mouth.

Now I tell the students they will need to select the correct emotional word to label how their monster is feeling to complete the sentence below their monster face.On the SMARTBoard I write the sentence, “My monster is ____.” The students and I discuss the sight words we see and we discuss how we know the vocabulary word is “monster” (We talk about picture clues and getting our mouth ready to say the first sound in the unknown word).

We also discuss the order of the words so that the sentence makes sense to the reader. I ask the students what makes the word “My” different than the other words. Hopefully a student notices it has an uppercase letter which leads to the discussion of how we know this word will be the first word in our sentence. I point out how spaces separate the words to make the sentence easier for the reader to read just like in a book.

Next I write the emotion words on the SMARTBoard so the students can see the words in large letters. I write sad in blue, mad in red and glad in green. I ask the students to point out the similarities in the words and the differences. I show the students the mixed bag of emotion words and ask them how I would select the correct word to label my monster and complete the sentence.Now it is time to send the students to their seat a few at a time to work on the activity at their station.

During Integrated Stations time I monitor the student work with prompting questions. “How do you know that is the word “My” and why does it go at the beginning of the sentence?” “Why did you pick the word ---- to go with your monster and how did you know it was the word ----?”

I allow the students about 15-20 minutes to work on this activity. I set the visual timer so the students can see how much time they have left.

Resources

After the allotted time, use a preferred classroom management technique to gain the students attention. Tell them it is time to clear their space and gather on the rug.

The students are to place their completed work in the "Completed work" bin. Any unfinished work gets placed in the "Under Construction" bin ready to be worked on later during the day when the students have spare time.

Student Sample 1 - low student sample. Words are out of order and there is no space between two of the words.

Once all of the students are gathered on the rug ask each student to tell you which emotion they chose for their monster and the first letter their emotional word started with. For example, “Jo which emotion did you choose for your monster?” Allow the student to respond and then ask, “What letter does ---- start with?”

Resources (5)

Resources

Have the students come over to you one at a time during either work station time or free choice center time.

Show the student the mixed up words, “My” “monster” “is” “mad” “glad” and “sad.”

Show the student a monster face with an obvious emotion.

Ask the student to put the sentence together and select the correct ending word to complete the sentence so that it matches the monsters face.

Record the result.

Ask the student to write the word “my” and the word “is.” Record the result for the student’s work portfolio. If the child has difficulty with writing, or is not writing, you could have the student make the sight word using letter tiles or magnetic letters.

I use the Sad Monster Glad Monster Checklist to go over the the students work which helps me stay focused on whether the student met the objectives or not. I can place a copy of the checklist along with the student work in his/her portfolio to share on Portfolio Share day. This is a good way to share progress with the student's family.

Resources

To help the students recognize numbers or number words (depends on student ability) I have a Monster Math worksheet where the students must color the correct number of monsters to match the number or number word.

At another station students match the correct emotional label to the correct emotion shown on the face. A model is there for students to use as a resource if needed. Feelings faces